Archive for April, 2009

Forex Trading- A Must Read

by fxreport

Forex Trading is financially the most rewarding strategy for Traders. With more than $2 trillion dollars turned over daily is also the most liquid trading market available. However in order to be a successful Forex Trader the simple most important thing that any trader either trading in the Forex market or looking to trade Forex can do is to educate themselves to become better Forex Traders. Today we will look at some key educational lessons to help you become a better Forex Trader.

As a novice Forex Trader you should be aware that there are 9 big No No’s when it comes to forex trading. You should make sure that you don’t make the same mistakes that 90% of traders make, which is loose there money. These below are the 9 biggest reasons why people end broke from Forex Trading.

1. Scalping or Day Trading Although there are many articles about day trading or scalping as a new trader you should try to avoid it, as it is not a wise decision for a beginner. The reason for this as there is so much to learn about you can make. Forex Trading and learning to day trade first up is the most risky strategy that you can use.

2. Using a Guru There are experts everywhere that are willing to sell advice, but remember 90% of them will end up broke. They will offer to do it only commission, but ultimately it is your money that they will lose.

3. Using Bad Brokers- They are like gurus. Make sure that you research the brokers first and make sure that you check the figures of these brokers before committing. If you are looking for a Great Broker then view the CFD FX REPORTthey have recently researched all the brokers and have come up with some excellent brokers that can help you with your trading future.

4. Practice with demo accounts- for months If you use practice accounts for months, you are only kidding yourself as you don’t have the pressure of your money on the line.

5. Habitual trading Some Forex Traders trade just for the sake of it. They think that if they are not in the market they will miss a move. If you trade just for the sake of trading then chances won’t be in your favor. Over trading will only make you go broke faster.

6. Mix fundamentals and technical inputs- Just confusing yourself If you are trying to mix both you just confuse yourself and drain your bank account, not an ideal strategy for Forex Trading.

7. Breaking your Rules Patience is the key to forex success. So many traders get the perfect system but fail to wait it and will just trade for the sake of it, breaking there own rules. Have rules and stick to them.

8. All or Nothing- Massive Leverage Too many traders are trying to make it rich from the first trade if that is your plan then you will ultimately end up broke. Today there are many trading platforms that offer massive leverage, such as 400:1 which can be too high. Make sure you use money management skills when using leverage.

9. Using too many inputs Many traders think that complicated systems are the perfect system but with it they are more likely not to succeed. The best rule that you use is simple is best.

So make sure that you get as much as education as possible before starting to trade, as great place to get lots of free quality education lessons is the CFD FX REPORT. Happy Trading

About the Author:

Getting Mutual Funds in the Philippines

by Jeffrey Mute

Buying mutual funds in the Philippines is a trend that a lot of investors follow today. This investment opportunity is popular due to the fact that it offers several advantages over other traditional investment options. If you want to join the bandwagon and invest in mutual funds but dont really know what it is about, then its time for you to be familiar with some general things about the said investment opportunity.

In laymans explanation, mutual funds can be understood as a fund which has an asset base jointly put up by different shareholders which is then invested into several diverse investment vehicles. A fund manager is designated to do all the decision-making regarding the kind of investments the fund will be put into. Invariably, he sees to it that the funds investments will gain maximum returns for the shareholders.

The legal owners of the mutual fund company are the investors themselves. The amount of their ownership depends on the number of shares they bought. This is also the determining factor for the income their investment will bring them. A mutual fund can earn income in two ways. The first one is through the dividends and interests earned by the funds investments. The other way is through the capital gains earned when the cost of security increases. Once the fund gains income, it will then be distributed accordingly to its shareholders.

Just like any other investment opportunity, mutual funds have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. One advantage of a mutual fund is that you dont really have to do so much work for your investment to grow. Since a professional fund manager does the research, selection, and monitoring process, all you have to do is wait for your money to grow.

Yet mutual funds also have a negative side. The presence of a fund manager can be good, but it also means that you wont be able to take part in the decision-making process. With whatever investment the fund manager chooses to put the funds money in, the only thing you can do is hope that it will yield positive returns for the company. Also, be aware that certain mutual fund companies charge fees. You should take this into consideration as it can affect your investment in the long-term.

One other disadvantage includes the costs and fees charged by the mutual fund company as this can affect the project returns of your investment. Also, be aware that mutual funds are medium to long term investments so you cant expect immediate returns.

Upon knowing these factors, you can now make your decision on whether you should invest in one or not. If you decide to invest in one, learn as many things as you can regarding the mutual fund company you want to invest in.

Dont stop researching on mutual funds once you invest in one, continue the learning process so you can personally monitor your investment. It pays to be responsible when it comes to your hard-earned money.

About the Author:

Trade Currencies

by Samo Yanezic

There are a lot of people just like you looking to find out how to trade currencies for profit. Especially given the global economic slump, there are ever increasing numbers of people trying to find ways to insulate themselves from the vagaries of the economy by finding new sources of revenue. Trading currency is something that has been around for more than hundred years. The market is very liquid, it is conducted over the Internet and you will find that as long as you can follow the market momentum and as long as you know what is going on and where your money is going, you will be jut fine.

If you’d like to learn how to trade currencies, you’re in good company; there are many thousands all over the world looking into this form of investment. There are traders out there of all skill levels and with differing levels of success.

Success or failure in this market depends on one thing above all others: information. You need to learn everything you can about the intricacies of the exchange markets and the historical trends relating to the relative values of the world’s major currencies. This is a market where things happen quickly and trading is conducted around the clock. You’ll want to stay well informed and have the right trading tools at your disposal if you want to minimize your risk and maximize profitability.

If you are considering how to trade currencies and what you need to do to succeed, remember that you need to do more than just trade one currency pair back and forth. There are essentially four major world currencies and you will find that they have performed well over time. While the US dollar has always been one major player, you’ll find that the Euro currency is making some real waves in terms of market stability.

There are profits to be made in trading all of the important world currencies; the key to knowing what to trade and when is to have a background in their performance over time as well as the way that the winds of the currency markets are blowing. While economic stability is a good thing overall, currency traders have opportunities to profit from instability as well; trading on a rapidly expanding or contracting currency can reap large profits in very little time.

There is a wealth of information available which can help you get started in making profitable trades on the Forex market. While the guides aimed specifically at Forex trading are a good place to get started, you’ll certainly want to make a habit of following world news, especially business news of you want to be a well informed trader.

A well informed currency trader is a successful currency trader, so keep apprised of the latest political and economic news from all over the world. Cyclical behavior is the norm in economies of all scales – so if you can watch these recurring trends and spot when a currency is on its way up or down in value, you can make some very lucrative trades.

If you’re interested in investing in the currency exchange market, remember to get as much information as you possibly can before you get started. Knowing how the markets work is key to being able to identify the trends which govern the fluctuating values of different currencies and enabling you to profit from the ups and downs of the world economy.

About the Author:

Is Investing In Precious Metals A Safe Investment

by Shannon Doty

Gold is one of the most precious metals in the world. It can stand the test of time, both in its physical makeup as well as its intrinsic value. It is also considered as one of the wisest investments there is.

Investing in gold may be a bit daunting especially for those who are new to the world of investments. It is good to know that investing in gold is not as complicated as other types of industries or businesses. If you want to make gold as an investment, you can do so even on the comfort of your own home.

Gold can be made into many different things, one of which is jewelry. The easiest and simplest way of investing in gold is purchasing and storing pieces of gold jewelry. You do not have to look very far to acquire these pieces because they are for sale almost everywhere.

Even shopping malls have intricate gold pieces that are for sale to whoever can afford them. The best part about buying gold jewelry is that there can be an actual use for your gold investment other than a piece of financial medium.

Storage will also be less of a hassle because you can store jewelry in your own house or just rent a secured storage space in a bank of your choice.

The value of paper money differs according to the dictates of world economy as well as the economy of the country in which the money is being used.

One of the best things about Investing in gold is that it can stand against the worst economic conditions. The value of gold is hardly affected by inflation unlike real money.

Gold is a very solid asset in every sense of the word and if you are thinking of investing in gold, there can only be rewards waiting for you as long as you have what it takes to keep it safe.

About the Author:

Poker and the Investment Game

by Rick Amorey

It’s a fact that all financial investments have risks. Ninety percent of people who enter into trading will end up losing their money. So what is it you’re doing wrong? These people do not have a good enough understanding of what’s going on in the situation, simply put. In a way, entering into investments is akin to playing a game of poker.

My theory is thus; the game of poker is a good simulation of the investment world, and the correct strategies in winning, or getting to the endgame, at least, is similar in both cases. I admit that this may sound a bit nontraditional, but do hear me out.

You will not get very far when playing poker, if you just hold back and wait for the right hand to invest all your chips in that one single hand. One, even the best hands have a level of risk in it, so you may still end up losing all your chips at the end. Another thing, if you go in, with guns ablaze, you’ll still only end up with a small yield of extra chips.

It’s not a very good move to bet like mad on every single hand, either. If you do this, you’ll come across as not very bright. Constantly exposing the majority of your chips to high risk will eventually lead to a burnout; you’ll be the first one out of the game, having lost all your chips in a few fell swoops.

So what is the right way to play poker? As anyone playing will learn quickly, getting ahead in poker involves more than just considering your own hand and chips, but getting a good feel for the hand and chips of those around you as well. Once you get a good feel of the game table, also know that you can’t put all your chips in one really good hand. Invest your chips little by little, spreading out your game to those of good, but not necessarily great plays.

The same principle applies to trading. The game table is essentially the market, and how it affects your investments. You’ll need to avoid having all your capital placed onto one investment. Spread it out into a number of decent deals, and then if one fails, you won’t be as devastated.

About the Author:

Finding Your Stock Market Investing Risk Tolerance

by Mr. Z

Risk tolerance is critical for online stock market investing. When you start to understand how to invest in the stock market, you’ll come to see that each individual has their own tolerance to risk , which should be analyzed and understood. Any reliable and professional financial planner or stock broker must understand this so he can assist you with finding out what your risk tolerance might be. Then, that professional needs to help you ascertain which stocks fit within your risk profile.

Some people think that people’s emotions are the only factor in determining investment risk tolerance.That’s a myth. There is a lot involved in deciding what your risk tolerance level is, and emotions are only a piece of the overall picture.

Understanding your risk tolerance level, with regards to beginner stock market investing, involves the consideration of multiple factors. One is that you have to be aware of the funds you have available to devote to investing, and the other is that you are thoroughly aware of what you are trying to achieve financially. As an illustration, if you plan to stop working in 13 years and you haven’t saved anything towards that, you will need to maintain a high risk tolerance and do some hard line investing to have plenty of money to retire when you want to.

But, If your investing begins when you’re 20, your beginner stock market investing risk tolerance will be low. Getting into the habit of investing early in life will create a situation that means you can grow your money slowly with less risk. When you factor this in with your emotional response to financial risk, you will have the investment recipe that’s right for you. It can be hard to figure this out yourself, so it’s best to use a knowledgeable financial planner or stock broker that can help you find an acceptable risk tolerance, and help you select your investment vehicles accordingly.

Knowing your risk tolerance will help you establish an investment style and help you feel confident when you and your broker make investment decisions. Even though there are multiple investment types, there are really only three specific investment styles – and those three styles tie in with your risk tolerance. The three investment styles are conservative, moderate, and aggressive. But I will save the clarification of those for another article. Those will be explained in a future article.

About the Author:

This Simple Forex Strategy Is Amazingly Profitable

by Michael Jones

Are you learning the Forex and looking for a Forex strategy that is simple yet effective?

Many newer traders face the challenge of trying to identify the trend on the intra-day level in order to make their Forex strategy work.

This problem can be alleviated by using the 200 EMA – (Exponential Moving Average).

The 200 EMA is one of the most popular indicators of all time with Forex traders the world over, and for that reason alone is worth noting due to the psychological effect on the market place price can have when hovering around the 200 EMA.

How To Use The 200 EMA

Start using this effective Forex strategy by setting up charts on three different time frames:

4 hour

A 1 hour chart

A 15 minute chart

Now add the 200 EMA indicator to each chart for the 3 time frames. You could color it red or whatever you prefer to make it stand out.

Some like to tile the 3 chart windows in a vertical style so it is easy to compare them side by side. It can distort the chart a little but for this strategy you don’t really need to see the chart in full screen mode.

Now run your eyes over each of the currency pairs you have selected for this strategy.

There are about 9 different currency pairs with a pip spread less than 10, so many prefer just to trade these.

They are:

EUR/USD | GBP/USD | USD/CHF | USD/JPY | EUR/JPY | USD/CAD | AUD/USD | NZD/USD | EUR/CHF

Search through and see if price is going against the 200 EMA on the 15 minute chart on any of the currency pairs.

Take as an example the EUR/USD pair. Make a note of where price is in relation to the 200 EMA on the three different times frames.

If price is well above the 200 EMA on the 4 hour chart, well above the 200 EMA on the 1 hour chart, but BELOW the 200 EMA on the 15 minute chart, price is bucking the trend.

So price is temporarily going against the overall trend and is in a retracement mode.

Look for a good point to get into the market in harmony with the basic trading maxim of selling rallies in a down trend or conversely, buying dips in an up trend.

Using the EUR/USD example, you would look out for a distinctive candle that would indicate possible price exhaustion as it bucks the trend on the 15 minute chart. The probability is it would soon resume moving in the direction of the trend.

This is an easy exercise and it can be done once or twice a day, taking just a few minutes.

Look Out For Price Going Against The Trend

As soon as you see price crossing the 200 EMA on the 15 minute chart whereas it is well beyond the 200 EMA in the opposite direction on the 4 and 1 hour charts, FOCUS! Snatch the opportunity to get into the market and make a profit.

After a little practice you will see how extremely powerful this simple Forex strategy is – certainly deserving a place in your trading tool kit.

About the Author:

The Essentials of technical Analysis: Part II

by Jack Haddad

Charting:

The time frame used for forming a chart depends on the compression of the data: intraday, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual data. Traders usually concentrate on charts made up of daily and intraday data to forecast shorterm price movements.

The shorter the time frame and the less compressed data is, the more detail that is available. While long on detail, short term charts can be volatile and contain a lot of noise. Large sudden price movements, wide high-low ranges and price gaps can effect volatility, which can distort the overall picture. Long term charts care good for analyzing the large picture to get a broad perspective of the historical price action. Once the general picture is analyzed, a daily chart can be used to zoom in on the last few months. Four of the most popular methods of displaying price data are by the following charts: line bar, candlestick, and point & figure. The line chart is one of the simplest charts. It is formed by plotting one price point, usually the close. For that matter, I don’t favor them because I personally consider the open, low, and high to be as important as the close in technical analysis. However, at times, only closing data are available for certain indices, thinly traded stocks and intraday prices. Bar charts are perhaps the most popular charting method. The high, low, and close are required to form the price plot for each period of a bar chart. The high and low are represented by the top and bottom of the vertical bar and the close is the short horizontal line crossing the vertical bar. On a daily chart, each bar represents the high, low, and close for a particular day. Weekly charts would have a bar for each week based on Friday’s close and the high and low for that week. Bar charts can be effective for displaying a large amount of data.

Using candlesticks, 200 data points can take up a lot of room and look cluttered. Line charts show less clutter, but do not offer as much detail (no high-low range). The individual bars that make up the bar chart are relatively skinny, which allows users the ability to fit more bars before the chart gets cluttered. If you’re not interested in the opening price, bar charts are an ideal method for analyzing the close relative to the high and low. In addition, bar charts that include the open will tend to get cluttered quicker. If you’re interested in the opening price, candlestick charts probably offer a better alternative. The beauty of Point & Figure charts is their simplicity. Little or no price movement is deemed irrelevant and therefore not duplicated on the chart. Only price movements that exceed specified levels are recorded. This focus on price movement makes it easier to identify support and resistance levels, bullish breakouts and bearish breakdowns. Contrary to this methodology, Point & Figure charts are based solely on price movement and do not take time into consideration. The topic on candlestick charting is broad and beyond the scope of this article. This method of charting originated in Japan over 300 years ago, and have become quite popular in recent years. For a candlestick chart, the open, high, low, and close are all required. A daily candlestick is based on the open price, the intraday high and low, and the close. A weekly candlestick is based on Monday’s open, the weekly high-low range, and Friday’s close.

Trendlines:

Trendlines are an important tool in technical analysis for both trend identification and confirmation. The general rule in technical analysis is that it takes two points to draw a trendline and the third point confirms the validity. An up trendline is formed by connecting two of more low points. The second low must be higher than the first for the line to have a positive slope.

Up trendlines act as support and indicate that net-demand (demand less supply) is increasing even as the price rises. A downtrend is formed by connecting two or more high points. The second high must be lower than the first for the line to have a negative slope. Down trendlines act as a resistance and indicate that net-supply is increasing even as the price declines.

About the Author:

Home loan interest rate

by Roman Markeral

Credits also go to: Gable Roof Calculator. No matter whether you look for your first home loan or you intend to switch home loans, you will find that there are numerous options and loans you can pick out from.

Before taking steps in accomplishing your goal you should first get enough information regarding the home loan interest rate you will have to face for some time. But first, let us see what the interest rate is. Interest rates represent the annual percentage and vary according to the amount borrowed, the loan to value and the profile. More precisely, the interest rate is the price the clients pay for using the money which they do not actually own or the return a lender receives for accepting the use of this money by lending it to the clients.

Before actually borrowing the money you need for your house, you should get the advice of an experienced bank worker whose expertise is in the field of home loan interest rate sector. Or you can also make some research online to find the different offers coming from various banks and compare them in order to be able to make the best choice for your needs. If you decide to do your own research on the Internet, you will see that all the banks’ websites offer certain tools that are helpful in working out the home loan interest rate that is most convenient to you.

These tools are called calculators. You insert your data and the calculator will do the work for you, providing you with an estimate of the rate you will be paying for your loan.

Another element to take into consideration before getting the loan is the type of home loan interest rate you will choose to pay. There are different types of interest rates which may affect the amount of money you will have to return to the bank. Thus, most lenders have a fixed interest rate, a variable interest rate, or a combination of these two types. There are also introductory or honeymoon interest rates. It is advisable that you consider the type of rate you go for, since it is the biggest factor in deciding how much your home loan will be and how much you will have to pay back monthly.

The smallest rise in interest rates can make a significant difference in the amount you will have to return to your lender. Anyway, by getting all the necessary information you will be able to weigh the advantages and disadvantages pertaining to each type of home loan interest rate and then you will be able to make the best decision to suit your interest.

About the Author:

Earn Extra Cash With Forex Trading – Is It Possible?

by Steve Halladay

If you’re reading this article, then you’ve probably already started dabbling in forex trading, or you’re thinking about starting. No matter which category you fall into, this article has some information that could help you.

First, we’ll talk about what forex trading is. It’s trading currencies in the hopes of making a profit. To know which money you’ll need, it’s important to be able to predict currency fluctuations accurately – that tells you when to sell and when to buy. Forex trading is a lot of fun, but it’s also challenging when you consider that you need to learn the skills to trade successfully.

There’s a lot of information available in bookstores and online that can tell you a lot about forex trading, but there’s so much that it can be easy to get overloaded. It’s possible to spend months or even years reading about all the different strategies that have worked for other people. Unfortunately, working strategies are changing constantly with the markets. that means that something you read about today could be extremely out of date. That makes it hard to keep up with the latest strategies.

If you’re not looking to make this a full-time career, you are best to let someone else do the work for you. It’s not hard to make a good-sized second income with forex trading if you go about it the right way. Your best bet is to trust the experts and seek out their knowledge on the markets.

The easiest way to effectively do forex trading is by using a forex robot. This software collects real time market data automatically, and has been programmed by professionals who know what they’re doing. It can help you identify the trades that would be the most profitable, and spot signals of a good trade. For instance, this kind of software can tell you when to buy Yen and when to sell to get a profit.

Many people are skeptical to start with. After all, no one wants to put all their trust into a computer program. However, there are plenty of proven pieces of software out there, and their records speak for themselves. You need to look for a few specific features when you choose your forex software.

First, don’t believe that just because a program is expensive, it’s definitely better. There are programs out there that cost thousands of dollars and just don’t work, and there are reliable pieces of software that cost only around a hundred dollars, but are guaranteed to make you a profit.

Remember to look for a money back guarantee, too. Programs that work should mean the sellers are willing to guarantee them. Longer guarantees are better – look for a minimum of thirty days.

The program should offer a demo account, too. Those will allow you to see how things work without investing real money. This lets you get used to the program and the methods of trading. Once you see how the simulation works, you can begin using real money.

Forex trading is one excellent way to earn a little extra money, as long as you do it correctly. Not sure about things? Don’t be afraid to ask!

About the Author:

More On Forex Broker Tricks

by Hass67

Forex brokers are more of a marketing machine than market makers. Forex brokers need a constant stream of new clients to keep making money since most of the new traders dont survive longer than a few months.

For enticing new clients, vast sums of money are spent on advertising by forex brokers. You can check this fact by going on Google and typing any forex related keyword. Almost all the ads will be by forex brokers. Each click costs them around $1.

One way is to announce forex trading contests that reward the winners with $2000, $1000 and $500 cash prizes. Who is the actual winner in these contests? Your forex broker!

This is like a lottery, only three win. The more you trade in order to win the contest, the more money your broker makes.

There is no check on the forex brokers. They can quote any rate to you. Forex brokers do this by adding 2 3 or even more pips to the interbank market pip spread

These 3 or 4 pips are the risk free profits that the brokers make for each round trip trade. You see why forex brokers are giving you free platforms and trading signals, only to make you start trading as soon as possible. Your broker will make more risk free money, the more you trade!

There is a practice used by forex brokers called Price Shading. For example, if the broker is convinced that Euro is on an uptrend and its price is going to rise, the broker will shade his price quote slightly higher to take advantage of the likely increase in Euro price.

One of the classic tricks used by many brokers is to trip stop losses with a single momentary blip. Brokers have all the information about stop losses placed by their clients. So, if he finds many stop losses at a certain level, there will be a momentary spike in the price feed that will trip most of the stop losses.

You cant do anything. It was a momentary spike, so small that it only tripped the stop losses.

Since, there is no central exchange to compare moment by moment prices, your broker can offer any excuse like there was sudden large order in the market or the broker feed is much faster and reflects true interbank rates.

About the Author:

Here’s The Way Real People Are Making Good Money Trading Forex

by Steve Halladay

For many people, making money with a small business has become much easier due to the advent of the Internet. There are quite a lot of things you can do to make money from home, and it doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to set it up. Sell items on eBay, or set up your own online store. In some cases, though, you don’t even have set up a store to get started. One of the best ways to make money online for many people is something called Forex trading, also known as “foreign exchange trading.”

Forex trading, also known as “foreign exchange trading” or “currency trading,” means that you buy and sell currency pairs so as to profit. If you want to make money, you have to be able to tell what currencies are going to do in each pair you work with. Forex trading isn’t easy to do if you’re new at it, but it can be easy to learn.

Truth is, you can waste a lot of time reading up on currency trading. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t try to learn what you can! You just need to make sure you spend your time wisely. Let’s quickly go over two examples of why currencies might fluctuate in value.

First, changes in the interest rates in a country will affect that country’s currency. As an example, suppose that the USA raises interest rates. This makes US bonds more attractive to investors all over the world. This causes extra demand for US dollars which results in the dollar rising in value.

Another example of a reason for a currency’s change in value is that a country’s key exports can rise or fall in value. One example of that is Canada. Canada is a major oil exporter. When oil prices go up, the Canadian dollar rises in value because of Canada’s oil exporting capabilities. This was true recently as oil prices rose markedly. Now, oil prices are going down, so that the Canadian dollar, too, is also going down in value when compared to some other currencies.

These are just two of many reasons why currencies will change in value – as I’m sure you can imagine it can be quite a complex topic!

Thankfully, you don’t actually need to know all the intracacies of the market before you can make money at it. There are forex trading software programs that have been developed by professional traders that will spot out trends and signals in order to find profitable trades for you. You just need to install the software on your computer (with an internet connection) and the program will use realtime market data in order to generate trades.

These programs are perfect for beginners because it allows them to make money while they also learn more about currency trading. As you become more knowledgable, you will begin to make trades based both on what the software spots and as well your own intuition.

When you go shopping for one of these programs, don’t fall for the high-priced ones. There are some programs that ask for thousands of dollars – you do not need to fork out that kind of cash for a quality piece of software! For around $100 you can get a proven and reliable program that will make you money.

The program you choose should also be backed by a moneyback guarantee from the company. If the program is successful, the company should have no problem backing it up with a guarantee. This also gives you some added security.

Even if Forex trading has seemed unapproachable to you in the past, take a look at it. It can be easy to get started in and you can begin to make some pretty decent money with it. It’s also a lot of fun! Best of luck to you!

About the Author:

3 Easy ways to a better credit score.

by Doc Schmyz

It used to be that “people” made decisions about your credit worthiness. You knew your banker and your handshake was all the collateral you needed. Those days are long gone, and now a single number – your FICO score – determines your credit worthiness.

Several credit models can be used for this article, however we are going to focus on the Fair, Isaac Company model. Better known as FICO.

Your FICO score is the method used to determine the interest rate as well as how much credit a bank or lender is willing to give you. the cleaner the credit…the lower your rate and larger the sum you qualify for.

Getting and improving your credit score is not hard at all, just takes time. Here is a tip or two that will help you improve and increase your score.

FIRST: You need to get a copy of your credit history

There are many reasons you may have no credit history. Maybe you’re just starting out, maybe you pay cash for everything and have never needed a loan. In any case, if you have no credit history, your FICO score is likely to be low.

The easiest way to raise your score is acquire a loan, and pay it off on time. In general, installment loans are weighted more heavily than credit cards. In other words, you will improve your credit score faster if you buy goods with an installment loan, rather than acquiring a credit card.

Another option is to take a $1000 and open a 6 month CD at a bank. Now turn around and get an installment loan using the CD as the collateral. You then take that $1000 loan and do it again at another bank. Do this for a total of 3 times.

Now what you have is 3 loans. Pay the minimum payment for 6 months. In the last month, cash out your CDs and pay the loans off. You now have a credit history, and did not go into long term debt to get it.

SECOND: Keep your credit history clean.

Ok…now you have a good history. No major debt…now to keep the FICO as high as you can.

You don?t need to close old accounts. (Unless you?re being charged a fee to keep the account open.) Part of the FICO formula is based on the amount of credit available vs. how much you have used.

Another thing to be aware of is how you manage your money. Here?s the scenario: you have a $2000 credit card. Every month, you charge about $1800 to that card. And, every month you pay it off. But here’s what happens – your credit card company reports your credit information monthly to FICO. However if they report it on the day before you pay it off…the credit agency sees you carry a balance every month. If you can try changing the days you pay off your credit card.

THIRD: Fix your bad credit

At some point there is a very good chance you will have something that causes your credit rating to drop. Don’t panic…poor credit can be fixed. Understand however that the process takes time. In some cases you may need to talk to a credit counselor to assure you address the reasons for the drop as well as remove any future habits that may cause it to drop again.

The most heavily weighted part of your score is based on your payment history. The first thing to do to start repairing your credit history is to pay your bills on time. The mortgage is the most important, followed by installment loans, and finally credit cards.

The next largest factor on your credit is how you have used it. You can improve it by paying off your credit cards.

One final thing to look for is errors in your credit report. Get a copy of your credit report from all three primary agencies, and look at all the entries. You can find the agencies here: experian.com, equifax.com, and transunion.com. If there are any errors, start the process to have them removed. Call your creditors – sometimes they will remove negative information.

A strong, healthy, and clean credit score is a major part of your financial world. Keep it clean and don?t risk it. A good score can factor into things you can’t imagine. Don?t damage your score if you can help it.

About the Author:

How Beginners Can Determine Their Investing Risk Tolerance

by Zombie

Risk tolerance is critical for beginner stock market investing. When it comes to stock market investing, you’ll come to see that each individual has their own tolerance to risk , which should be taken into account. A professional financial planner worth his salt should know this so he can best assist you with finding out your own personal risk tolerance level. Then, that professional needs to help you ascertain which stock market investments suit your risk level.

It’s commonly assumed that “risk tolerance” refers only to how you feel about risk. That’s not the case at all. Actually, a lot is involved with determining what your risk tolerance level is, and emotions are only a piece of the overall picture.

Understanding your risk tolerance level, with regards to online stock market investing, requires that you consider multiple factors. One of those factors being that you know how much investment capital you have available, and the other is that you are totally aware of your financial end game. As a case in point, if you plan to stop working in 13 years and you haven’t even started saving for retirement yet, you will need to sustain a high risk tolerance and do some hardcore investing to have enough cash to retire.

Conversely, if you begin investing for your retirement in your early twenties, your beginner stock market investing risk tolerance level can stay low. Getting into the habit of investing early in life will allow you to let your money grow over time. When you factor this in with your emotional response to financial risk, you will have the investment recipe that’s right for you. This can be difficult to figure out for yourself, so it’s advisable to use a reliable investment professional who can expertly assess you risk tolerance and assist you with investing for retirement.

Knowing your risk tolerance will help you establish an investment style and help you and/or your broker choose investments wisely. While there are many different types of investments that one can make, there are really only three specific investment styles – and those styles are directly related to your personal risk tolerance. The three investment styles are conservative, moderate, and aggressive. But I will save the explanation of those for another article. Those will be explained in a future article.

About the Author:

Forex Investing – How to Get Started

by Ryan A. Moxie

You have many different financial investment options such as equities, mutual funds, IRA investments, real estate etc… but none of these give you the same lucrative options as the forex market, which has over US $2 trillion traded everyday. It used to be that only institutions or people connected with banks, brokers, and other financial institutions could trade the foreign exchange market.

The forex market has changed dramatically over the past decade with the internet and technology, foreign exchange investing has opened up to the individual trader and investor. Because of this a vast number of people have begun investing in the forex market to try and profit. Even a beginner can get the benefits of the forex market by allowing a professional in a managed forex account to trade their money.

How Do You Get Started?

Where should you start? Beginners often feel lost at fist with the forex market. This can be a major reason why so many people end up losing their money at first. To start forex investing you need to open a forex trading account. Forex trading is not only about making forex investments, but also about creating investment strategies, knowing which currencies are weak and strong, understanding the market and how the currencies fluctuate, and much more. This is all very confusing at first and you might end up wasting time and your time is a key factor in foreign exchange trading and investing.

What are your options? A great option is a managed forex account, which will have a professional making your forex investments for you. There are many benefits in having a managed forex account, a major reason is that you will not have to watch the forex market all the time because some one is doing that for you. Now you don’t have to sit in front of a computer monitor all the time watching the forex market.

What are the Benefits of Forex Investing?

One reason why forex accounts is considered a top option for investing is because of the high leverage. Depending on the broker you use to open a managed forex account with you may have to make a minimum deposit of $200 onwards to start off. The most common type of forex investing is the standard account where you will have access to major currencies and it will be worth $100,000. But you dont need $100,000 to start trading. The minimum amount is $1,000 to start trading.

Then you have the mini account where each lot traded is much smaller at only $10,000 per trade compared to the $100,000 per trade. Most brokers will give you a choice between a standard account and a mini account. Remember you can also go with a managed forex account which will give you the ability to have a professional with great knowledge of the market make trades for you.

Making your forex investments with a managed forex account is easy you will just need to open an account with the broker the professional trader uses to manage the forex managed account. It is the same as opening any forex trading account except that you will allow a professional to make the trades for you an not yourself.

About the Author:

Forex Falling- Stop the Fall

by forexStop

When it comes to trading one of the crucial areas that you must learn, and is pivotal in helping to protect your capital and to make you a successful trader is Stop Losses. A stop loss is an order to buy (or sell) a security/contract if the price of the security is to go above (or dropped below) a specific set price or stop price. If this specific stop price is achieved, the stop order is then activated as a market order (no limit) or a limit order (fixed or pre-determined price).

A very important key point to using a stop order is that you don’t have to actively monitor how a stock is performing. This can allow you to do other things instead of being forced to monitor the trade. However because the order is triggered automatically when the stop price is reached, the stop price could be activated by a short-term fluctuation in a security’s price, caused through lack of liquidity or other. Once the stop price is reached, the stop order becomes a market order or a limit order and you will be exited from this trade.

Especially when trading in a fast-moving volatile market, the price at which the trade is executed may be significantly different from the stop price in the case of a market order. Alternatively in the case of a limit order the trade may or may not get executed at all. This happens when there are no buyers or sellers available at the limit price.

TYPES OF STOP ORDERS:

Stop Loss Limit Order

The stop loss limit order is an order to buy a security at at no more or less than you set the specific prize at. This allows you the trader some control over the price at which the trade is going to be executed at, but this may prevent the order from being executed at. A stop loss limit order can only be executed by the exchange at the limit price or lower than you have set it at.

Meaning that if the stock was to open up in the morning and ‘gap down’ below the prize that you set the Stop Loss Limit Order would be triggered and then enter or exit you from that particular trade that you set the price on.

What are the key advantages and disadvantages of the stop loss limit order?

ADVANTAGES of a stop loss limit order is that the trader has full control over the price at which the order is executed at, as you set the order.

DISADVANTAGES of using the stop loss limit order is that in a fast moving volatile market your stop loss order may not get executed if there are no buyers/sellers at the limit price due to rare circumstances or when a stock or trade can be illiquid.

Stop Loss Market Order

The stop loss market order is when you place an order to buy (or sell) a security or contract once the price of the security climbed above (or dropped below) a specified stop price. When the set stop price is reached, the stop order is entered as a market order (no limit). In simple terms when a stop loss market order is a order to buy or sell a security at the current market price prevailing at the time the stop order is going to trigger the order. This particular type of stop loss order gives the trader no control over the price at which the trade will be executed.

This is an order to sell at the best available price after the price goes below the stop price. A sell stop price is always below the current market price. If for example you buy a stock at $1 and the set the stop at $0.90 and the price was to trade next at $0.88 then you be exited from this trade at the $0.88 A major advantage of this is that you can limit the particular loss of the trade. The main disadvantage of the stop loss market is that the trader has no control over the price at which the transaction is executed at if it is below the set price they put.

The use of stop loss orders is a great insurance policy that cost you nothing and can save you a fortune. Unless you plan to hold a stock forever, you should always use stop losses.

For more education lessons please feel free to visit the CFD FX REPORTthey specialize in helping to educate traders, they can also assist you in finding the best online broker.

Happy Trading

About the Author:

Stock Market Education-Learn the real keys

by FOREXREPORT

The supporting reason to buy that you can’t resist. When you are a trader the two basic patterns to all trading is support and resistance. You may hear and read a lot about these strategies. So what do they really mean, and can I make money from this knowledge.

How can you resist it:

In theory resistance means selling is sufficient enough in volume to stop the price of the stock or currency from moving high. Meaning it has hit a ceiling.

Resistance is what is found at the peak of the upward trend. This is when the selling takes over to cause a counter trend. It may also mean that a stock starts to trade within a particular partner. Stocks and currencies can then encounter major problems trying to break through these levels. So make sure that you have tight stop losses or guaranteed stop losses if you current broker doesn’t offer them change them, here is who we suggest BEST BROKERor email support@cfdfxreport.com

The supporting argument:

Support is therefore the opposing concept of what resistance is, where there is sufficient volume to stop prices of the stock or currency falling. You’ll often see prices bounce from important support levels. This is why you will see a lot of traders looking for the support and resistance so they can trade the breakouts.

How can I can find out where the support and resistance is. Well something very important to consider when you are looking to evaluate where the support or resistance line is how often a share price has been rejected at that line. The more often the trend has been reversed the more powerful the level of support or resistance. It then becomes much harder for that stock to be able to break through these, if the do it can be then a great break out trade.

Markets don’t tend to forget too quickly, so these levels come into play quiet a lot. This is why having a great BEST BROKER is very important.

So if you see a support or resistance line occurs straight away after a steep price movement it is likely that this level will be a reliable level of support or resistance. The stock or currency price will simply not have the force to able to break through this level following a sharp upward movement or downward spiral.

Make sure that you are always looking at the volume at the support and resistance lines as this is also very important. For example if they fail to break through these lines on strong volume the stronger these lines become. So they may not break these lines.

Make sure that you learn where the support and resistance lines are as it may just save or make you a lot of money. Sometimes you maybe better off waiting for these to be broken, and they can then be a great spot to put your stop loss.

Happy Trading.

About the Author:

How do Stocks Work?

by Mara Hernandez-Capili

Stocks are shares acquired from a publicly listed company. As a shareholder, one is considered as a part-owner of the said company and has certain privileges such as voting rights. A shareholder also receives an annual dividend from the companys annual profits. Dividends are computed like this: suppose you were able to buy 1,000 shares of MAC Company and the company has profits of about $7.5 billion annually that possess 750,000 shares all-in all. Your annual dividend would then be estimated to around $10 million. That is just how simple stock works.

Stock Trading is the activity of buying and selling of stocks. It is oftentimes called as stocks exchange. It is entirely difficult and time consuming for a person who wants to sell shares of his company, by running down an ad or spreading the news through word of mouth. That is the reason why there are exchange floors. Exchange floors are venues where sellers and buyers (traders) meet on one roof- well; those are actually brokers that do the job for them.

The New York Stock Exchange is the primary and largest exchange floor in America today. It features the sales that are up for grabs and also its values and worth. We normally see the exchange floor as bursting with chaotic activity. The exchange floor is where brokers receive a call from their clients who want to buy a particular number of shares for a specific company. The brokers then find traders who are willing to share their stocks for the value the brokers client commented. The NYSE is also a place where the current market value can be seen along with the fluctuations or rises every second or minutes.

Stocks are not stable financial instrument because it does not possess a specific value. It goes up and it goes down, depending on the companys situation in the market. Some investors are into day trading, where they rapidly transact hundreds of stocks per day for the instant profits it brings. It is more of like a gamble and financial experts see the buy and hold strategy as the better way in investing.

What I mentioned are just some of the basics that one needs to learn about stocks and stock trading.

About the Author:

Finance Part 2: Investments That Work

by Mara Hernandez-Capili

We are all dreaming of that special day when we can sit back and relax at a fabulous island while sipping a cold pia colada, not worrying about missing work (because you dont work!) and just thinking of the countless money that is earning itself in your bank account. Sounds fantastic right? How would you feel if I tell you that this kind of lifestyle is within your reach, you just have to exercise on your financial intelligence to have it?

Gaining financial freedom requires us to fully exercise our financial intelligence. It may be hard to reach it but that is the reason why there are seminars and financial classes that will equip one on steps and different strategies towards financial intelligence. It is important to research and know more about the right vehicles that you think can work for you. This article is to provide you with information on how to gain financial freedom by having investments that work.

First tip is to invest through stock or shares. Stocks are a chunk from a publicly listed company which you can buy and can make you a part-owner of that company. Stocks however pose some risks that an investor needs to review before selecting his options. Stock trading also has risks involved that are why a lot of people think twice before investing in stocks. Your capital may increase if the company starts to enjoy higher profits and has a danger of having no returns if the company experience losses.

Second tip is to invest through real estate. Buying a piece of real estate and having it rented out is a great example of having passive income- which means that you earn without doing anything. It can pump you with money month after month. It is a classic example of having your money work for you. A word of advice: start building your asset column first by buying assets first before buying liabilities. Assets are those that put money in your pocket while liabilities are those which take away money from you.

Learn more on how to invest on stocks as this is practically an easy and fun thing to do. It means having more time to focus on your other investments while watching your money grow.

About the Author:

It’s Time for Creative Real Estate Investors to Get Rich

by Augie Byllott

Why Real Estate? What do Creative Real Estate Investors have to gain? How about early retirement? How about a shorter work week with more pay? How about loads of money in the bank? Sound good? This is the perfect atmosphere in which to get started.

I’d like to discuss a couple of things with you. Defaults are at an all time high. People are spending way beyond their means and this is not only on their homes, but with credit cards and other forms of debt as well. We have the bank as well as the home owners to thank for that.

Let’s take a step back and look at the root cause of all of this. Basically, banks would give money to anyone in almost any financial situation. In many cases, this was way beyond the means of most people. So, fastforward a few years and it only makes sense that the real estate market for all kinds of homes is suffering more foreclosures than ever.

We are also seeing more bankruptcies, along with more bank repossessions. There are more VA, HUD, FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other government-insured loans defaulting than ever before in history. Can you say Short Sale?

The number of homes selling below market value is at an all time high. Because so many people are in a bind and can’t sell their homes when they need to, it’s a buyer’s market. That means we have Motivated Sellers. With so many options, it should be much easier to find a profitable deal.

We have all heard this saying – “in real estate you make your money when you buy and get paid when you sell.” You may put money in your pocket when you sell the property, but if you bought the property correctly, you have lots of money making options. But if you bought the property incorrectly, you may not have any options. So finding motivated sellers and properties below market value is the first goal while investing in real estate.

A key thing to point out about investing in real estate is that there are a multitude of people looking to buy homes, assuming you can tell the prospects from the suspects. Because of the financial crisis around the world, many of these would-be buyers are having a tough time getting money from banks. An investor can turn these lemons into lemonade with the right amount of innovation. With the know-how and some ingenuity, an investor can take the place of the bank and take a pretty penny for their time. Are you able to finance the transaction with the sellers money? Whos on your buyers list? Do you include only traditional buyers?

Now that seems crazy doesn’t it? If there are more properties than ever before and at better prices, and if there are more buyers, then why don’t the buyers just buy those properties? The reality is in most cases they don’t have the techniques that I told you about. So now that you know it can be done, it’s time to start investing!

About the Author:

Picking Stocks and Mutual Funds Successfully

by Korrupshun

Before you buy any shares of a company the first thing to think about is if the price will go up or down in the foreseeable future. Failing to consider this one crucial point, can result in a loss of capital.

Now, moving on after verifying that initial point, you should always keep in mind whether the stock is cheap or not. Should you start to think that buying undervalued stocks means learning about buying penny stocks then you have missed the point completely. Simply put, knowing how to pick stocks correctly is akin to investing like you have done it your whole life.

What are cheap stocks then? Buying cheap stocks means purchasing them when they are trading below face value. Finding these cheap stocks is what makes the pros so wealthy.

How do you buy a stock that is cheap? The number one thing to look for is a sector that is not performing like it should or will be performing well soon . Very that the PE multiple of your stock is favorable when compared to it’s competitors PE multiple. If the stock price looks like it will go higher and the competitor comparison is good, then you just got lucky and found a cheap stock. If you really believe the stock is under priced then you should think about buying it.

Does this mean you should not learn how to begin trading mutual funds? Of course not. You would not ignore other ways of investing unless you wanted to lose a lot of money in the process. Don’t be a fool and learn how to invest in mutual funds as well. You will be sorry if you don’t take the time to learn. Mutual funds can be the perfect way to make your investments grow over a very long time. You do not want to be one of the foolish and broke do you?

About the Author:

Use No Load Mutual Funds to Earn More Money

by Sara B. Danowitz

Investing is a great way to build your net worth. Unfortunately, if you want to invest in stocks, bonds, or other investments you need to have extensive knowledge. Fortunately, you can invest in mutual funds and forgo all that.

A mutual fund is a way to get a lot of people’s money together in order to invest in a larger variety of stocks, bonds, and/or other investments. This is beneficial because it means better diversification.

Mutual funds are also much easier and simpler. You don’t have to do any stock research, that’s the job of the fund manager. The most research you have to do is the research to find a good mutual fund.

If you want to get the most money from an investment, you not only need the highest return possible, but you need to cut back on expenses as much as possible. You can do this by investing in no load funds.

A load is basically a fee. When you invest in a load fund, you pay a sales charge or some kind of fee. A fee is not a good sign because that means much less money in your pocket.

No load funds mean you don’t pay any fees. You don’t pay a fee to sign up, you don’t pay a commission for each trade, and you don’t give a percentage of your earnings to the fund manager.

If you don’t think that’s a big deal, you should really think about it. Not only are you getting to keep that money that you aren’t paying as fees, but when you invest it, that money will also earn you more money.

Sometimes managers of load funds will claim that they can get you a return that is above average. Maybe they can this year but maybe next year they lose money. Historically, they don’t earn any more than a basic index fund which means you should go no load and make more money.

About the Author:

Auto Forex Trading ” What On Earth Actually Is It?

by Mike Chartman

First things first lets start by defining the term forex so you can have a clear view on what we will be talking about later. The foreign exchange market is whereby currency trading takes place. It is where banks and other financial places allow transaction of foreign currency

How is forex trading done? Here one party purchases a certain amount of money in exchange of another quantity. Exchange of currencies has been taking place since the 1960s. Each country or bank offers its own rates on trading forex. Forex is a liquid market and therefore it changes in value and amount. Different countries trade with each other through governments, banks and other financial institutions.

Turnovers recorded are gradually growing. Making use of auto forex is one of the largest, contributors to the economic growth and development. The values of auto forex are in that the forex market allows room for trade and investments. US Dollar, Sterling Pound, Deutschmark, Euro and Yen are some of the international currencies used for trade.

Auto forex trading is also known as auto execution. One can make the best profits out of selling currency. Customers have been offered auto forex trading automatically so that they can. To trade with the auto forex an individual has to first identify with the forex brokers and know which ones offer the service automatically

API is a techno-speak acronym used to allow users control their transactions and processes while trading. Auto trading is done online and works with only with software that has a forex specification. There are different types of software that can be used in forex trading. Examples of these software are Fabre Factor which a bit on the expensive side, or the Trade Bullet, which is a bit cheaper compared to the former.

About the Author:

Tools For Succes in Day Trading

by Mara Hernandez-Capili

Day trading is defined as the act of rapidly buying and selling of stocks within one trading day. It is for the purpose to have huge profits within seconds or minutes that you own the stock. Nowadays there are a lot of day traders sprouting in the market because it is accessible. Why? Well you can be a day trader right at the comfort of your own home. This article is written to provide you with the tools needed to set-up your own trading engagement at home.

The advent of the Internet and the computer makes it easy for someone, even at home to practice day trading. This article is to provide you with a list of tools needed for your day trading endeavors to be successful.

First tool that you need is a fast and reliable Internet connection and a computer. A laptop computer with a huge and high resolution screen is advisable so you can enjoy multitasking while doing online trading. A wi-fi or broadband connection is also advisable so you can move around with your laptop and not be confined in one area alone. Day traders rely on information on the internet where they can also meet buyers and seller online.

You would also need trading software and a charting software to keep track of all your accounts and activities. Since you may need the services of a broker, an interactive licensed broker is available for your perusal and hiring. Interactive brokers make use of market data, also from the internet to view the current situation and set-ups in the market. You will also need a phone and a telephone with a backup internet access.

There are the basic tools that would aid you in the success of your day trading endeavors.

About the Author:

Why The T-Strip Is A Nice Investment Tool

by Kris Filmalter

A STRIP is the acronym or it stands for Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal Securities. Zero-coupon securities which have maturities longer than a period of one year are not available for issue by the US Treasury, so it has created a program called the STRIPS program, where the principal payments and interest payments or coupons of standard Treasury securities can be broken or disintegrated and traded separately as zero-coupon securities.

How It All Began

People call then T-STRIPS due to the fact that they are issued by the Treasury. The background behind the start of T-Bill trading took a path closely related to the dawn of the computer age. In the era of break dancing, rubics cube, and parachute pants, there was a new method of investing that was being born on the technological backbone of new computer software and hardware. T-Strip trading was much different than the old style coupon tearing of the old style zero coupon bonds. The US Treasury made the new form official by passing out identifications for the new STRIPS called a CUSIP code.

Under this program, the financial entity can provide the Treasury with standard treasury note or treasury bond that can be stripped. Not naked! :-) ..but stripped into individual instruments of cash flow. At this point the securities are returned to the financial entity. The United Treasury also makes sure that all the parts of a T-Strip are tagged so that the reconstitution of them later can happen without the danger of synthetic bonds never issued by the Treasury.

For instance, a 10-year note which is freshly will be stripped into 20 interest payments, two yearly or semi-annually for 10 years and one principal payment which will be due at its maturity date. All the twenty interest payments plus the single principal payment are broken up into STRIPS, each of them will then become a separate security. The new separate securities are then identified as coupon strips for the interest payments and principal strips for the principal payment. Together they are referred to as Treasury STRIPS.

These Treasury STRIPS are separate zero-coupon securities. Nothing is different about them at all from the zero-coupon securities. As a matter of fact, to an investor, there is no distinction between a coupon strip and principal strip, although technically the Treasury STRIPS are not identical. In the example given, all twenty one coupons have a unique identifying number called the CUSIP number.

The STRIPS program mandates that all the disaggregated or “stripped” securities be kept in a book-entry system for easier tracking and transfer efficiency; this is the purpose of the said CUSIP number. Now, all the coupons can be traded and held individually.

T Strips Provide Risk Free Investing

It is important to know that STRIPS are not issued or sold directly to investors. In order to but U.S Treasury STRIPS, you need to use officially licensed financial institutions and U.S. government securities brokers and dealers. There are options in how the maturity of the STRIPS occur over the period of the investment. It can be from ten to thirty years. STRIPS are highly popular with investors who want to be sure they receive a known payment amount on a specific future date, because it is a very safe investment.

STRIPS components can be brought together into a fully constituted U. S. backed security in the commercial book-entry system. In order to reconstitute each security, the licensed financial dealer must conmbine the right principal component along with all the unmatured interest components. When the minimum amounts of the components are brought together, the security is considered reconstituted.

STRIPS are more popular when short-term interest rates are down. At these times short term bank rates and reinvesting bond proceeds are not alluring. T- Strips, being zero-coupon securities, do not have reinvestment risk.

About the Author: